Queen - Queen: Greatest Hits I & II
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Artist: QueenEdition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 1995-11-14
Music Label: Hollywood Records
Soundtracks:
Music CD 1
- Bohemian Rhapsody
- Another One Bites The Dust
- Killer Queen
- Fat Bottomed Girls
- Bicycle Race
- You're My Best Friend
- Don't Stop Me Now
- Save Me
- Crazy Little Thing Called Love
- Somebody To Love
- Now I'm Here
- Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy
- Play The Game
- Flash
- Seven Seas Of Rhye
- We Will Rock You
- We Are The Champions
- A Kind Of Magic
- Under Pressure
- Radio Ga Ga
- I Want It All
- I Want To Break Free
- Innuendo
- It's A Hard Life
- Breakthru
- Who Wants To Live Forever
- Headlong
- The Miracle
- I'm Going Slightly Mad
- The Invisible Man
- Hammer To Fall
- Friends Will Be Friends
- The Show Must Go On
- One Vision
Music reviews of Queen: Greatest Hits I & II
Music Review: Good Snapshot of Queen's Musical Portfolio
Rating: 4 Stars
Looking back at the 1970s, sometimes many forget how big the band Queen was. Even as Queen moved into the 1980s, while their popularity did slightly decline in the United States, it continued to be very high in Europe. Their performance at Live Aid is widely considered one of the greatest of all-time and their subsequent "Magic" tour is considered one of the all-time greatest concert tours. If it weren't for Freddie Mercury's death in 1991, we might still be talking about Queen being as big a band as the Beatles. Numerous compilation albums are available containing much of Queen's music. The period from 1974-1980 is considered the period where Queen achieved its most popularity - especially in the United States. Following 1980, Queen's popularity continued, but this was mostly in Europe. However, there was a lot of good music still done by Queen, thus continuing their legacy. In 1981, Queen released an album "Greatest Hits" covering that 1974-1980 period. Ten years later, Queen would release a second greatest hits collection - "Greatest Hits Volume II", that would cover the post 1980 period until Mercury's death in 1991. In 1994, these two volumes were combined into a single release entitled "Queen Greatest Hits I and II"
Queen is an example of the sum of the parts actually being greater than the whole. However, if you take each of the four members of Queen, they easily stand on their own as a top musician in their profession. Freddie Mercury is easily known to be the emotional and flamboyant lead vocalist of Queen who indeed has a legendary voice. Brian May is the legendary lead guitarist and probably the second most popular member of the band. Roger Taylor and John Deacon go extremely underrated. Listen to Taylor's thundering drumming in the studio or live and one can easily understand why he was asked to participate in an All Star Drum Jam (The S.O.S. All-Stars) at the Live Earth concert. As for John Deacon, he might be one of music's all-time underrated bass players. Many of his bass lines have proven to be the foundation for Queen's musical sound. In addition to being top musicians, all four members play integral roles in the songwriting.
For the most part "Greatest Hits I" covers eight of the nine albums from 1973 through 1980. The albums represented on the 1981 UK Version are "Queen II" ("Seven Seas of Rhye"); "Sheer Heart Attack" ("Killer Queen", "Now I'm Here"); "A Night at the Opera" ("Bohemian Rhapsody", "You're My Best Friend"); "A Day at the Races" ("Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy", "Somebody to Love"); "News of the World" ("We Will Rock You", "We are the Champions"); "Jazz" ("Fat Bottomed Girls", "Bicycle Race", "Don't Stop Me Now"); "The Game" ("Another One Bites the Dust", "Crazy Little Thing Called Love", "Save Me", "Play the Game"); "Flash Gordon" ("Flash"). The only album not represented is "Queen", however it is important to know that technically "Seven Seas of Rhye" appeared in an "unfinished" version on the "Queen" album. On "Queen II" the full version of "Seven Seas of Rhye" appears on that collection and that is the version that is included on this version of "Greatest Hits".
"Greatest Hits Volume II" covers the five albums from 1981 to 1991. These albums include: "Hot Space" ("Under Pressure); "The Works" ("Radio Ga Ga", "I Want to Break Free", "It's a Hard Life", "Hammer to Fall"); "A Kind of Magic" ("A Kind of Magic", "Who Wants to Live Forever", "Friends Will be Friends", "One Vision"); "The Miracle" ("I Want it All", "Breakthru", "The Miracle", "The Invisible Man"); "Innuendo" ("Innuendo", "Headlong", "I'm Going Slightly Mad", "The Show Must Go On")
One thing that disappoints me about this collection is that despite the fact the two volumes are divided by time, the songs are not ordered in chronological order on each disco. One reason why I like greatest hits collections to be chronologically ordered is because it often shows how a band has progressed over time. Queen originally started as a good mix of progressive rock and early heavy metal. Queen would eventually move away from their progressive roots and incorporate a variety of other types of musical genres including a more theatrical type of element, a pop element, rockabilly, and even Dance/Disco (as demonstrated on the "Hot Space" album) The shuffling of the order of these sounds really takes away from seeing how Queen evolved their sound.
Quality-wise, one cannot complain about the content of the music in this collection. This contains some of Queen's most popular songs and shows a good continuum of their career. However there are other greatest hits versions to consider. First up, the two volumes are available as single releases - "Greatest Hits" and "Greatest Hits Volume II". These would really only be worth it if you were interested in the specific time period each volume covers.
In addition to the two volumes being available as single volume releases. There are several other compilations available. Here are three others:
- "Greatest Hits Volume III": This covers latter material on the band. It focuses on collaborations with other artists (such as Elton John and George Michael) as well as solo material and unreleased material by the band.
- "The Platinum Collection": Includes all three volumes of the "Greatest Hits" series.
- "The Crown Jewels" is a boxed set that includes all Queen's first eight albums in their entirety (but doesn't include anything from "Volume II or III".
With the exception of "Tie Your Mother Down" not being included, Queen does a good job at providing a good snapshot of their musical portfolio. However, a fan might be better served at getting "The Platinum Collection" as this is more complete and provides Volume III. Therefore, I'd still opt for "The Platinum Collection" unless you really aren't interested in the rare material from "Greatest Hits Volume III".
Description of Queen: Greatest Hits I & II
Audio CD (November 14, 1995) Original Release Date: 1995 Number of Discs: 2 Label: Hollywood RecordsQueen brought a whole new meaning to the phrase over the top. While rock & roll flamboyance stretched back at least as far as Little Richard, Freddie Mercury continued to camp it up, taking little seriously and smirking at the music's growing pretensions while partaking in them no small bit. Many of the band's singles hold up extremely well, later tracks such as "Hammer to Fall" as much as prime-era numbers such as "Bohemian Rhapsody," "Killer Queen," and "You're My Best Friend." The quartet's canny sense of melody and sophisticated vocal harmonies--not to mention Mercury's raised eyebrow--have traveled well through the years. --Rickey Wright
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